‘APC rigged themselves into power,’ LP replies Buhari’s overconfidence jibe

The Labour Party on Friday described as false President Muhammadu Buhari’s position on the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

The president had on Thursday identified overconfidence as the cause of the PDP-led opposition’s defeat in the election.

Buhari, who spoke when members of the Progressives Governors Forum visited him at the State House, Abuja, said: “They (the opposition) were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC. Our party blended confidence with caution, we worked hard and won.

“Now, their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else. They are finding it hard to convince those who supported them from the outside why they are unable to beat us.

“A combination of overconfidence, complacency, and bad tactical moves made them lose, plain and clear. This has created more problems in their camp. Why did they fail to remove us?”

However, in a statement issued by its Acting National Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, the LP insisted that the outcome of the election was not a true reflection of what played out during the exercise.

READ ALSO: ‘Someone who lacks credibility can’t blame others’, APC slams Naja’atu for berating Buhari

The party added that the election was manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension.

The statement read: “There are several reasons why opposition political parties lost the 2023 election; the first is that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) snubbed the Electoral Act wherein it failed to upload the result from the polling unit in real time as promised and in disregard to the laws guiding the election. The INEC by so doing, created room for that election to be rigged.

“The current APC president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, didn’t win the election, because the said election, particularly, the presidential election was manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension.

“So we can say political parties didn’t lose the election because of overconfidence or complacency as proffered by Mr. President. APC in collaboration with the various government agencies simply rigged the election and rigged themselves into power.

“Let me remind Mr. President of the magnitude of violence, ballot snuffing, snatching, and manipulations of results from the collation centres using security agencies, which included police, army amongst others as well as thugs to manipulate elections in favour of the ruling party.

“Recently, we saw the show of shame that took place in Adamawa. What played out in Adamawa was a microcosm of what played out all over the states during the February 25 and March 18 elections in Nigeria. Why the case of Adamawa was given huge publicity and attention was because of the involvement of an INEC National commissioner who was a victim, thus forcing INEC to take prompt action.

“From Lagos to Rivers, from north to southern parts of the country, all over, violence characterised that election. In most cases, some agents and supporters were not allowed access to the polling units.

“All of these put together, do they amount to overconfidence and complacency on the part of the opposition party? It shows that the President who promised Nigerians that he was going to give Nigerians a free, fair, and credible election simply failed in his duty in giving Nigerians the election they deserved.”

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